Fake It 'till You Make It
by Vestgirl
Summary: Tenten, daughter of the most important man in the nation, has run off to risk her life for the sake of adventure. With a new identity and a stiff-necked partner, Neji Hyuga, she'll learn that being a New York City cop isn't just about good stories. AU.
1. Prologue

****Try not'a snack too much while reading, eh?**

**DISCLAIMER****: This entire story is Copywrite. MINE. Got it? Naruto, however, is NOT. Neither, mind you, are the characters MINE. They all belong to Kishimoto and the Naruto franchise. **

**Summary: Tenten, daughter of the most important man in the nation, has run off to risk her life for the sake of adventure. With a new identity and a stiff-necked partner, Neji Hyuga, she'll learn that being a New York City cop isn't just about good stories. AU.**

_**-x0x-**_

_**Fake It 'till You Make It:**_

Prologue:

The sound of hundreds of feet, accompanied only by the shouts of men, filled the air of one most potentially peaceful night. Of course, thing were never peaceful around _her_. She had a way of stirring stuff up. The regularly pale White House was flashing in a multicolour array: the late summer night's blue haze, the moon's beige glow, the yellow indoor and outdoor lights, and the red and blue lights from the police cars. Although at night it was usually quiet, silenced by the unheard creeping of the secret service roaming aimlessly through the freshly cut grass, this night was quite contrary.

She rested in a tree not too far from the house, having lost most of her stamina to the chase of burly guards. Even though her breath was as heavy as a mid-April rain-shower, she had to be deafly quiet. She was quite far away from the war-like chaos, but somehow her father's sonorous, bellowing voice still reached her. She rested her legs over the branch, preparing to jump to the ground. Yes, she had waited long enough. Readying her arms in case her legs couldn't handle the impact, she let air pluck her from the safe arms of the tree and found much rougher hands to embrace her, with the rushing of the ground. Pausing for a moment with one knee on the cold dirt, she glanced back at her father, commanding his men where to look for her. As if he could guess such a thing. She smirked for her dumbfounded father and stood up strait, looking towards the only direction she possibly wanted to see.

Her heart pounded in anticipation as she raced into the shadows, slowly making her way away from her father and towards the street. Glancing uneasily behind her to make certain there was no one following, she found little comfort in the fact that no one was in sight. Jumping over a few obstacles, she dashed around the corner, hustling along the empty road towards a small silver car parked and ready to go, all but in gear. She scampered to the car's side and opened the driver's door as briskly as she might have hoped without the corner tagging the close-by rubbish she'd parked beside. As quickly as she could, she peeled out of her temporary parking spot, leaving but a burnt rubber signature on the otherwise pristine roadside, and drove as far away from that place as she could.

Her well-earned driver's license calls her Tenten. The President's step daughter, who wouldn't dare take the name so easily recognizable as was his. According to her simplified, numeral birth date, she's twenty-six years old. And far too old to still walk the hallows of the oval office with a man she barely knows. For years, she'd been asking him if she could leave, if she could get a job herself, even vote. Of course, she'd never vote for him again; she knew well what his real platform was. But he was far too '_overprotective_', the paper's might have read, to allow it; not to mention he needed the 'father figure' image for his campaign. It's all he had left after the 'faithful husband' angle was shot, a death shared all to well by her mother. Tenten wouldn't let politics be the death of her too. It wasn't the first time she'd ever tried to get away, but it was the first time she'd gotten this far. Rolling down the window to breath the skyline, she rubbed her brown, almost mahogany hair out of her face. She usually put in a long braid or twin buns, specifically for this reason, but tonight she felt her hair would have to mirror her own freedom. She shared a warm glance with the eyes of her rear-view mirror, the same light, golden brown as her own. On her face she always wore a crooked smirk that went well with her thin, rolling, excited eyebrows.

The building she had been searching for appeared in her line of view, between a law firm and an podiatrist's office. Tenten had been driving too long already, as she wasn't one to sit still for long. The sun had already come up and settled behind deep grey clouds, if not growling thunder-heads then masses of smog. The building seemed old, but no older than she remembered; it had a faded grey paint layered over some dried up deep green from the previous owners, with cracks in the foundation. It looked like a scar compared to the fresh pair linking arms with it. She parked her car in front of the place and stepped out, looking at the shop she knew so well. Well, perhaps not so _well_ lately. Inhaling a deep breath, she entered, hearing a small bell ring above her when she pushed the door open.

"Aunt Kurenai?" She asked quietly as she glanced around the shop. There was no answer, except the settling of dust and easing of the waving bell. She waited a moment longer before asking the vacancy again, "Hello? Auntie, are you up yet?"

"_Tenten_ , is that _you_?" She heard a reply, through two turns-worth of space down the hall towards the back stock room.

"Yeah, where are you?" She followed the direction of the voice through the cluttered shelves.

"Around back, dear, hurry over," Was the woman's reply. Tenten slipped around the relic cash register and into the low-roved back room. "What are _you_ doing here, after so long, no doubt?"

The woman peeked her head up from behind a box balancing on two tiny hands, her dark hair waving over her ears as if following the few wisps of grey that she'd neglected to colour. Her face was stern but sincere, as Tenten might have expected after such an absence. She stood about as tall as Tenten, though she leaned back with the weight of cardboard and some kind of crumby merchandise. Her skin looked wrinkled but well worn, despite such often laughter. Tenten rushed over and helped her with the box, easily grasping it and placing it atop a small counter with a single chair but many drawers.

"Just out for a drive, you know. Forever." She watched her aunt's puzzled reaction. "That man won't be bothering me and my 'ungrateful attitude' any longer." She quoted in a low tone, with a smirk of some kind.

"_That man_ is your father." Her aunt reminded her carefully.

"_Step_ father, I'm not actually related to him." She spat, seeming somewhat more resentful, "And thank God."

"Nonetheless," She waved off Tenten's obvious disrespect as she sat in the chair behind the counter, "he's the closest thing to a parent you have. That's_ something_."

"Actually I think I'd consider his secretary more of a parent than he was, but I suppose you're obliged to speak well of such prestige," She added, more sarcastically.

"It's not as if I like the guy any more than _you_ do." She returned Tenten's earlier smile, "I just hide it better."

"I'd rather not talk about him." She said softly, resting her arms on a counter near her aunt, "I need a favour."

"A favour?" She repeated, "I don't know if I can get close enough to your Dad to slit his throat, but I can certainly try." She shrugged jokingly.

"Surely you're kidding," She stared blankly.

"I am. But don't call me Shirley," She laughed at the age-old pun, but Tenten only rolled her eyes and waited for her to finish. "As long as there's no homicide, I'm game."

"There could be some, but not on your part." She replied vaguely, interesting her aunt.

"I have to advise you against murder, Tenny," She said quickly, "And my knowledge of it would make me an accessory, and I am not about to-"

"Shut it Shirley," She laughed out, joking again. She inhaled slowly to start, "I want to be a cop."

"A... cop?" She asked, bewildered, "What on _Earth_ would posses you to want t_hat_?" She was definitely startled by her niece's answer.

"Mom use to talk about her old times on the force, do you remember? It sounded just amazing, like a never-ending adventure," She rested her face on her hands and her elbows on the counter.

"Oh it ends pretty quick when you've got a bank robber with a Mac11 shooting at anyone who _moves_, and let me remind you it'd be your '_amazing_' job to _move_ to intercept him." She went on rambling, obviously never excited about the idea.

"Well, I'm going to need a fake ID to get away from _Mr. President_ and I thought: why not a badge, too?" She continued, counting on her fingers.

"Do you ever _listen_? Besides, I'm not exactly in the fake ID business any more, remember? I retired after your mother died." She said on a sour note.

"Couldn't you just do _one_ more, I mean it's _family_!" Tenten begged with a pouted lip, "And you can use mom's old badge to boot!"

"That's a tall order there babe, my hands aren't what they used to be, you know." She complained, but when she saw the look on her niece's face she knew that her mind was already made up, "And it depends on where you're planning on going; I'll need to do my research of course."

"Where _else_ would I go than New York City," She stated firmly, more than influenced by the setting of her mother's tales, "The central crime city in all America!" That wasn't true at all. But from the stories, it sounded like it.

"Of course," She sighed, "I should have guessed. I suppose you've set your mind on this and looked at every other possibility a hundred times already?" She watched Tenten nod her head up and down so quickly she was sure she'd give herself whiplash, "Okay, all right already. I'll _do_ it. Sheesh girl. I'll have it ready for you in two days, can you lay low that long?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'll book the plane ticket right away." She grinned a wide, toothy smile.

"_Plane_ ticket, how are you going to afford-" She was interrupted by her niece holding up a fan of bills. "A Cop who smuggles money from the President of the United States," She smiled and shook her head.

"I call it child support," She said in her defence, and her aunt laughed.

"Fine," She wasn't about to give her a speech on ethics while she cheated the government herself, "you can stay in the guest room upstairs." Kurenai gave in, flicking her wrist.

"Thank you!" She hugged her aunt tightly, perhaps too tightly as Kurenai stiffened awkwardly. Tenten thanked her again, bowing with palms together, then bounced upstairs, humming a tune.

"She'll come to regret her rush." She muttered to the dust bunnies, "That girl has no idea what she's in for." She shook her head in premonition as she began working on creating herself a new niece. Maybe this one will count her blessings.

-x0x-

Preview of Next Chapter:

"New partners? You two have only worked together for a few months!" He groaned, tired of hearing this from them, "You have to learn how to work with other people, despite your stupid issues."

"Neji'll never work well with others, Sir," Lee said, though he was right, he had to add, "I bet he was the kid who used to dunk other kid's heads in the sandbox."

"You like to try that again?" Neji eyed him with a low growl.

"Please, sir?" He changed the subject, luckily, "You know if you keep us together we'll probably just keep messing up." Lee negotiated.

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	2. The Shots We Take

****Keep rooms well lit while reading and writing, and relax your wrist between scrolling.**

**DISCLAIMER****: This entire story is Copywrite. MINE. Got it? Naruto, however, is NOT. Neither, mind you, are the characters MINE. They all belong to Kishimoto and the Naruto franchise. **

_**BTW**_**, I know this story ain't as well written as my other stuff, truly I know, I actually wrote it years ago, and have just been going over it again and touching some things up. Just thought you guys might get a kick out of it.**

_**-x0x-**_

_**Fake It 'till You Make It:**_

**Chapter 1: The Shots We Take**

"Take the shot." The officer behind him kept commanding, surely his mouth could hardly learn to say another word.

"I can't, he's moving around too much." He said, with almost a stutter of nervousness, "Just give him a few more seconds, please." He finished; sweat trickling down his forehead at a steady pace.

"There's no time, the guy's got hostages." He stated, with a hint of panic coating his voice, "He's waving that gun around like a flag, he'll shoot someone in '_a few more seconds_', let me tell you."

Down below, another quiet figure swept, undetected, into the scene. A crazed employee holding his co-workers hostage, that was the call. Currently, the hostage taker was making a speech to his hostages, as too often they did. He strode around the office spinning a gun on his finger and aiming it at anyone who moved, as if he didn't know how quickly it could split life from limb. The officer hid behind a desk with his gun ready, waiting for an opportune moment. He ducked deeper as the man rushed past, definitely out of range for his colleagues outside. Just as the frantic menace put his gun at his side to yell a final statement with his fist instead, the officer jumped in. Spinning around the desk, he rose from his knees and aimed the gun directly at the back of the perpetrator's head.

"Drop your weapon." He commanded without hesitance.

"What the-" He turned madly towards the officer, his eyebrows arched opposite his frown, "How did you get in here?" The man said, sounding aggravated.

"Drop your weapon, now." He ignored the question, pressing the gun firmly before him. After a moment's hesitation, the man tossed his weapon fruitlessly and put his hands up beside his shoulders. The officer holstered his weapon hurriedly and retrieved handcuffs instead.

He grabbed the erratic man's arm, but instead of giving in, he tore his arm from the officer's grasp and made to assault him. The officer dodged fully his slow and over-exerted hook. Ducking deep once more, he slipped around the recovering fighter, grabbed both arms and pulled them fiercely behind his back. He pushed the man hard onto a desk and finally slapped handcuffs onto him.

"I wouldn't even add '_resisting arrest_' to your charges for _that_ pathetic display." He said, but not as to antagonize. The other officers hurried in after and took the hostages and the man outside, despite more futile protests. He followed behind, dipping his hands into his pockets as easily as he put his pistol to it's holster.

This particular officer was a man approximately in his late twenties, though his face was rather mature, with a strong jaw and straight nose. He had long brown hair done in a low ponytail and eyes like diamonds; such a light blue they were almost clear. His eyebrows were low and his shoulders were broad, a perfect specimen of intimidating police force. But he'd never overuse his size, for he wasn't one to think that was his best or most useful tool. He strode out alongside the grateful civilians, whose praise he would never brush off or take too heavily.

"You didn't shoot," He seemed surprised as he fell into step beside his partner.

"The guy kept moving," His partner replied, annoyed, "Else I just might have."

"You're a terrible shot," He said simply, "You'd have ended up shooting me."

The officer's partner was a lot different than he. With short, black, shiny hair and very large eyebrows, he looked more like an eccentric than a force to be reckoned. He had deep brown eyes that in some lighting seemed black, and often wore rather tight clothing with his overzealous grin. He stood straighter, but just barely shorter than his partner, despite their similar ages.

"I can't get rid of you that easily, can I Neji?" He smiled.

"You should have come in with me," He said suddenly, "You always do that, when it's a robber or murderer you'll rush him and take him out no problem, but when the situation needs grace and stability you hang back and hide behind some scope."

"It's the fastest way to save someone sometimes, Neji," He replied angrily, "Bad men don't always give up, you know that too well."

"You mean it's the safest way to save someone," He said, though quieter, as if it didn't really need to be said.

"Hyuga, you almost lost him; what happened?" The commanding officer said standing in front of them.

"Lee couldn't get a shot, and I couldn't risk hitting a hostage if I tried." Neji explained, stopping and standing strait in front of the higher ranking officer.

"Next time, one of you better step up to the plate; you're putting lives in danger here." He shook his head and crossed his arms.

"Next time? Oh no, there's no _next time_. I want a new partner." Neji stated firmly. "One who'll watch my six no matter the situation."

"I do, too." Lee agreed, finally finding common ground.

"New partners? You two have only worked together for a few months!" He groaned, tired of hearing this from them, "You have to learn how to work with other people, despite your stupid issues."

"Neji'll never work well with others, Sir," Lee said, though he was right, he had to add, "I bet he was the kid who used to dunk other kid's heads in the sandbox."

"You like to try that again?" Neji eyed him with a low growl.

"Please, sir?" He changed the subject, luckily, "You know if you keep us together we'll probably just keep messing up." Lee negotiated.

"..." Their superior mulled it over, knowing full well that he was correct in that regard, and that the police force couldn't take any more screw-ups. "Fine, fine, but remember this well because I'll only say this once: you'll have to stick with whoever I assign you, am I clear?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Crystal." They both replied, Lee more eager than Neji. But that was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Good, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow in my office." He waved his hand and hurried away. Conversations ended quickly when the three of them were around, business as usual. Despite the Lieutenant's carefree nature, this kind of job demands a firm hand, and a haste one. Paperwork kept him plenty brisk.

After hardly enough time passed to be called overnight, Neji Hyuga went to his commanding officer's closet-sized office, sided by his soon-to-be ex-partner Rock Lee. They waited outside on two chairs, as they had been for the last hour. Bright and early never quite meant bright and early in New York City, with traffic as it is and crime springing from the cracked pavement like fountains. Neji glanced at the name on the door: M, Guy. He had never known what the Lieutenant'slast name was, only that it started with an M. He was a rather secretive man, about his personal life anyway. He was always quick to be friendly with his men, ask them about their days, so forth; when he had the time. From the maturity of his face, Neji estimated his age to be around forty. Guy, like Lee, wore tighter clothes; which evidentially wasn't a good look for either of them, Neji had come to terms with.

"Hyuga, Rock, please do come in." Guy said sticking his head out of his office door. Nither of them had been sure he was in there at all, since they hadn't so much as heard a peep. They nodded and followed him inside, trying not to bump arms that they might have to share displeased glances. "All right," He sighed, resting against his desk, "New partners, right?"

"Yes sir." Lee said formally. Neji rolled his eyes, his partner always sucked up. He would have bet safely that was the reason for their similar appearance, as well.

"Right," Guy stalled, still hoping one of them would suddenly change his mind. No such luck, of course. "It just so happens that I have two new officers, transfers. I was planning on putting them together, but at least this way you two probably won't keep screwing up. All right, Rock," He addressed Lee, "Come with me, your partner is waiting." He walked out the door, followed by Lee, leaving Neji to wait uneasily by the door. He wouldn't complain, though.

Guy led Lee down a hallway and towards a small room, one which was only ever used to watch ongoing interrogations. Opening the door, Lee saw his new partner. He had short, red hair that was scruffy and not brushed but covering most of his forehead, his eyes were a light green and his posture was slouched and tired. He had very pale skin and very thin eyebrows. He was a little shorter than Lee, but had a much more defined face due to his sharp nose and thin lips.

"Rock, this is your partner: Gaara." He introduced.

"Hello," He spurted almost instantly, "my name is Rock Lee; it's a great pleasure to meet you." He smiled warmly and extended his hand for a firm shake, his trademark.

"I'm sure." He replied without looking up.

"I'll leave you two to get to know each other a little, to make sure this partner is _acceptable_," Guy said sarcastically, then turned towards the door, "Show Gaara around a bit, he's used to the flow of things up in Albany. Come and see me in the conference room when you're good and ready."

Neji waited patiently, not even a finger straying from firm and disciplined posture. The door swung open again, and only his head moved to greet. But upon sight, his eyes flickered up and down to be sure he knew what was standing before him. This brunette girl he'd never once seen before leaned the door in and stared at him. She had her hair up in two buns, which was outdone only by her contorted expression with one eyebrow raised, one eye narrowed, and a half-frown. Indeed, she wasn't what one would call expected.

"Howdy," She said shortly, "Would you happen to be Lieutenant Guy?"

"If I was, wouldn't you expect I'd be _behind_ the desk, instead of in front of it?" He raised an eyebrow to the stupid question, but she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Then you must be Rock Lee," She said surely, striding across the room towards Guy's over-padded chair, "I heard he was a little socially awkward."

"Afraid not." Neji replied evenly, watching her carefully.

"Oh," She jumped into his chair and put her feet up, reclining against his desk. "Not the talkative type I see." She said to the roof, for it would probably talk more than the man standing across the room.

"Not particularly." He said apathetically, wondering what Lieutenant Guy might do had he seen her display for himself. She rocked a few times in the slightly squeaking chair, swaying his eyes with her the while.

She sat up suddenly, leaning over Guy's desk and eyeing every picture, placement, and detail. Neji watched her as such, taking note of every movement and tracing every change in expression. She just didn't seem to fit there at all, personality wise. Her clothing, however, was perfectly professional, despite her rolled up sleeves and boot-like shoes. He let her go on raiding his superiors desk, for all he knew, she might well have been something like FBI, a real high-up. He wouldn't take his chances around her. But still, she just didn't seem fit for this place at all.

"This Guy, however," She started, and he was interested immediately, "He's a real people person. He's loud, am I right? His oversized picture frames and comically large pens _scream_ oversized personality. His desk is organized, but his drawers are not. That means he must be more concerned with how people see him than how he seems _himself_. He's quite confident in _that_. Also, his garbage is full of food wrappers, but no scraps. This means he eats in a lot in here, so he's probably real busy with his work, and he finishes_ every_ bite of his meals. This could mean he's either stressed, or works out a lot, because those people tend to eat in a lot more, and I'm leaning mostly towards the latter, considering none of the wrappers are for fast-food establishments, mostly health food."

"..." Neji was caught a bit off guard by her sudden profiling. That part of her alone was certainly higher-up material.

"In every picture he's wearing a suit, he must like to look good, sharp. But such strange ties, he's a real strange guy. Bright green, red, these spontaneous designs." She was definitely on mark there, "And he's always wearing a watch, a digital _stop_ watch, and has a clock on his wall as well as on his desk. He's very concerned with time, probably even competes with himself to beat his previous times, of anything. And a plant, well watered, shows that he must like to be in control, to groom things his way. Like a teacher. No wonder he's in the position he is. And this, pens more used than pencils, he's confident he doesn't make mistakes. Notes written on the pad instead of computer, he must be better with paper then technology, a real traditionalist."

She got up and started through the room. Neji simply followed with his eyes, waiting for any error. She rushed past him, nearly knocking him over, looking up at the door.

"Hey, mind giving me a boost here?" She had her fingers touching the top of the door frame, trying to look above it.

"I most certainly _do_ mind," He replied, startled by her behaviour.

"Come on!" She stepped real close to him, putting her hands together, "I want to see if he's got dust on the top of his door."

"What will _that_ prove?" He instinctively tried to back against the door, only to find her step match his perfectly.

"Just a little lift, will you?" She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to lift herself up, while Neji stiffened and shuffled to the left, avoiding her entirely.

"I'm not going to-" He was stern.

"You only have to raise me like an inch and I-" She followed him close, but he was not one to be followed.

"Listen," He spun them around, pushing her against the wall with his eyes and stopping her exit towards the door with an outstretched arm, "You want to find some dust, you're on your own. I won't be a part of it."

"..." She breathed in a deep breath, feeling her chest rise so close to him. She flushed, realizing just how close he was to her. In truth, she didn't have too many interactions with people her age, she always just goofed around with the senators, much to their despair. Perhaps she was a little caught off guard, at the feeling she tried to shrug off from the pit of her stomach. He was a lot more intimidating than they were, and handsome, she noted. But she wasn't about to be outdone. "Kay."

She ducked under his arm in a flash, avoiding any further protests and completely escaping him. He watched as she tried to climb the door, but of course that wouldn't work. She jumped up at it, but could see no higher. Leaping with arms out, she grasped the top of the door frame and scrambled to see above it, pulling herself up against the wood. Neji watched, amused or surprised, when the door opened inwards. She let go of the frame and grabbed on to the top of the door, which pushed her in with it. Guy stepped in, wondering why the door was so heavy, he turned the knob a bit, but spoke to Neji anyway.

"Neji, I can't seem to find your-" A loud thud stopped him silent, and the pair walked around the door. They peered around to find a girl sitting slouched on the ground, groaning dully. "Ah, there you are."

"In the flesh." She remarked, laughing awkwardly. She hadn't been able to hold onto the door as long as she hoped, and now her behind was certainly bruised from the fall.

"I see you two have already met," He went on, "This is Elisabeth Tenkins." Guy started as the girl smiled innocently and waved. "Your new partner." Neji was still. He was more than surprised, for he had pictured something much different than, well, this. He had never _had_ a female partner before. Guy found it necessary to tell Neji, though he had probably already guessed, "She_ just_ became a detective, so be nice."

"Right." Neji agreed, still watching the girl stretch her back from the fall.

"Well," Guy turned towards his desk, leaving the door ajar, "You two should get going then, don't want to miss briefing." Scrambling to her feet, Tenten, under her alias of a detective, grabbed the doorknob for support, only to have it move away from her as doors often do, pulling her on her knees stretching after it. Guy hadn't seen, as he was approaching his desk, but Neji watched her out of the corner of his eye, eyebrows raised. She stood herself and mocked Neji's straight posture stoutly. "I'll get the files ready and meet you there. And make sure to introduce her around, wouldn't want her feeling alienated out there."

"Yes sir," He agreed somewhat casually as Guy sat down.

"Off then," Guy waved them out, and they obliged, "Oh, and Tenkins?" She looked back at him, turning a bit, "Do try not to make a habit of scaling my door." She stood stiff, embarrassed, "Neji and Lee have slammed it far more than a regulation door might take, I doubt it'll hold out to as many climbs."

"Noted," She grinned that cute, sheepish grin and hurried off. She caught up to the brisk pace of Neji rather quickly, he found as she leaned before him and questioned, "So," She started, "You got a name?"

"I do." He said, but didn't feel like disclosing too much.

"'I do'?" She repeated, knowing she would bug him, "Never met someone named 'I do' before. Hey, wouldn't it be weird if there was a girl named 'I do', and you two got together? Then when you get married, you only have to say each other's names and boom you're hitched!" Neji's eyes narrowed at her loquaciousness.

"Hyuga." He stated, to shut her up.

"Another odd one. Who do you think you are, Cher? What's your _full_ name?" She asked patiently. He hesitated for a moment.

"Neji, Hyuga." He growled in a low voice, though she'd find out sooner or later, even if he hid it, she'd probably run across door frames spying on him until someone said it.

"Okay then, Neji," She paused for a second, "can I call you Neji?"

"No." He sounded annoyed, twisting through the halls as if he could lose her.

"Okay then, Neji_kins_, what are we supposed to do now?" She teased, already knowing how to make him uncomfortable.

"Did you just call me _Nejikins_?" He seemed a little taken aback, and didn't do the best job of hiding it.

"I did." She yawned, putting her hands behind her head casually.

"_Don't_ call me that." He demanded sternly. He was not one to be messed with, obviously enough.

"Jeez, lighten up." She laughed at his expense, patting him on the back playfully, "I'm only kidding."

"We have work to do." He wheeled around and opened the door while she scurried after him. He certainly did like to run away, but still, she was not one to be outdone.

He strode through the empty hall quickly, not even looking behind to see if she was following after. If he had any luck, she had stopped to snoop through someone else's trash can or desk. Although Tenten herself was quite a fast walker, she had some trouble matching his pace. He had longer legs, after all. Besides, she found the chase rather amusing, compared to waiting for hours at stupid press conferences.

"Let's get a few things straight," He said suddenly, with a deep and commanding tone, "First, you will not call me _Nejikins_, or any other odd and _horrible_ form of my name, got it?"

"Yes sir." She said with a mock salute.

"Second, you will not question my authority; since I have seniority over you I call the shots, am I clear?" He asked sharply, expecting nothing less that total acceptance of his commands.

"Yes _sir_." She repeated, stressing the 'sir' more strongly.

"And finally," He stopped and turned to look at her, so close he could see the red in her cheeks as he surprised her, "Don't mock me."

"Got it." She grinned sheepishly, trying to hide her salute.

"Good. We can do full introductions later, we should be getting our first case file at nine. We meet in the conference room with the other detectives on our shift." He spun back around and fell into his quick pace.

"Yes sir…" She muttered with a grin.

He ignored her, but his teeth subconsciously clenched. Making various turns down hallways, they finally arrived at the door of the conference room. It was open, but only a sliver, and inside Neji could see his former partner. He hesitated, not really wanting to see him again so soon, but as lingering might make this new girl question his motives, as she was so prone to questions, he turned away and headed across the hall. Confused, she hurried after him.

"Where are we going, wasn't _that_ the conference room? Unless plaques lie," She added, rereading the label above the door that confirmed her suspicions.

"Do you drink coffee?" He asked, and she didn't respond right away, "Even if you do, you're _not_ having any. I'd hate to see what you're like strung up on caffeine."

"Loving the hospitality," She murmured as they came into a smaller room, with a sink, some cupboards, a fridge and a coffee maker, among other things. Neji simply walked past the fresh brewed pot and into the fridge, pulling out a simple bottle of water. "Not much of a bottled water guy, I see."

"Pardon me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow to the allegation that he did not like bottled water, when indeed he was holding that very object.

"You just refill that same bottle." She observed, pointing at his hand, "I can tell because though the bottle is full to the brim, the seal has already been broken. That, and the glue securing the label to the bottle has gradually worn off, leaving only a loose sleeve. There's also water damage to the label, which either proves that it's been cold and left to sit in a warm environment various times, producing enough condensation to warp the ink, or that you fill it with regular _tap_ water instead of the water in those cooler machines. I figure someone with hands as steady as yours would have a hard time spilling water over the rim if the water came from a machine that dispenses water in narrow steams, but if you use a tap, the stream is wider and thus easier to spill over the bottle, causing the ink on the label to run."

"You certainly have a lot to say, don't you?" He asked with an arched brow.

"I do. And in addition," She pointed her finger matter-of-factly, "you don't hide the fact very well. The fact that you're not a very trusting person." She continued. It was true, she was always a talkative person.

"Really?" He said monotonously, waiting for more. Or for laryngitis to suddenly set in, he could only hope.

"You wrote your name on your bottle. I'm sure your co-workers would know by now that it's _your_ bottle, and being police they might well know better than to take what isn't theirs. But still, you write your _name_ there, so no one steals it or uses it. Besides, you've been here long enough that most people would become comfortable around their colleagues, but _you_, even at the sight of the man waiting in the conference room, have this compulsion to avoid them. You're a very personal person, and find it difficult to trust others. You didn't even trust _me_, your partner, with your _name_." She finished, giving him a knowing stare. He shrugged it off, though.

"We really shouldn't waste time with banter," He started in a bored sigh, walking past her, though she followed him with her head, "Guy will be waiting."

"Gotcha." She nodded and went after him, finding it almost too tempting the way they left the salt shaker right next to the coffee pot. But she wouldn't, not here. Too easy.

Neji led her in, as he was sure she'd make an unbecoming entrance and embarrass the both of them in front of Lee and whoever his new partner may be. She was silent though, for once, as if she knew he wanted her to be good. He would have smiled if it wouldn't have ruined his otherwise perfectly undisturbed demeanour. The two paused a few feet from the other detectives, by the overly extended table. Guy sat in some crooked seat, arranging the files to his liking. He looked up and noticed them, clearing his throat.

"Well, now that we're all here," He took a folder from the top of the desk and read it's contents, "This case is for you two," He handed the folder to Lee.

"Various bank robberies in the vicinity." Lee read out loud, closing the folder. "Yes sir," Lee nodded at his superior as Gaara stood idly.

"Gaara, you should be familiar with this case." That seemed to quirk his interest, "It seems that the methods involved are the same as some recent robberies in Albany. But seeing as how these incidents are both within this state, the Feds haven't been contacted. Keep it that way, and get them before they move on to another city. Got that?"

"Yes sir," Lee spoke for the two of them, and they turned to leave.

As Gaara nearly stomped by Neji, their eyes briefly met. Neji raised his chin as an uneasy feeling settled, brought on merely by the lack lustre of his eyes. He'd seen those kinds of eyes too many times, he was sure. He didn't like it at all. Gaara smirked as he passed him, content with the impression he left, and left the room. Neji eyed Lee's partner as he disappeared from his vision, he was certainly a suspicious one. Lee began to pass his former partner when Neji stuck his arm in Lee's path. In response, he gave Neji a low, irritated glance.

"Watch your back out there, Lee, I don't trust that new guy." Neji whispered warningly, "I can't be there with you any more."

"You don't trust _any_one." He commented, "And I don't need your advice, Hyuga." Lee rudely shoved his arm away and dismissed Neji's comment.

"Hyuga," the Lieutenant's voice was stern, commanding Neji's attention, "Here." He handed him a folder, and none too casually.

Neji took it from his superior's hand and glanced over it. His eyebrows furrowed as Tenten stood on her tip-toes to read over his shoulder. He closed the folder, placed it back on the table, and looked back at his intrusive partner. She looked enthusiastic as she gave him with a warm smile. That wasn't something he was willing to reciprocate. He frowned and left the room, giving a wave to the Lieutenant, without so much as another word. Though she felt rather dragged around, she repeated his wave and followed at his heels.

"So, what's our case, huh? Escaped convict with a black belt? Stolen weapons? Arsonist?" She dramatically illustrated her words with actions as they walked towards the parking lot.

"Beat Patrol." He stated simply, crushing her hopes, "Until another case comes along, that is."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," She shook her head with a groan, dragging her feet on the ground when they exited the building, like a kid having a tantrum, "They give you a folder for _that_?"

"Sorry Tenkins, it's not _all_ dangerous, life-risking cases you know." He plucked the keys from his pants pocket and clicked the unlock button for the cruiser, "The folder was our route."

His car was basically your everyday semi-undercover police cruiser: dark blue with a small siren on the inside of the roof for chases or getting through traffic. Neji opened the driver's side door and got inside while Tenten got in the passenger's side, something she wasn't used to. It was either the driver's seat of the back of some limo, that's what she was accustomed to. She found that she didn't seem to mind the seat though, full view of the road ahead, and nothing like steering to keep her from looking.

"So, where to?" She asked, closing the door quickly and getting cosy in his clean vehicle.

"Sticking to the route, mostly. Responding to any calls, wherever we're told to go." He turned on the car and on came police dispatch.

There were numerous numbers being said by a woman, slightly drowned out by the static on the radio. The numbers were code for crimes, but Tenten couldn't figure out what they meant; never having learnt about it. She frowned. It'll be hard to squeeze by without knowing those, yet anyway. She didn't want anyone finding out she's a fake. She sighed quietly and glanced at her partner, getting no reaction. She momentarily pouted, then sighed again, this time rather audibly. He adjusted his rear-view mirror casually, having heard her the first time.

"Yes, I know this is boring, but someone has to do it." He said in an even tone as he took a turn with ease. This car sure was a smooth ride.

"Yeah, yeah," She muttered to herself more than to him.

She was very uncomfortable with the silence, and stared at the police dispatch, as if something important was just going to jump right out and smack her in the face. She took the time to slowly turn her head towards Neji, as indeed she felt like she had all the time in the world to do so. He was leaning his elbow on the car windowsill, with his cheek resting on his hand. He was staring outside through the open window, apparently lost in thought. Her eyes unintentionally traced the profile of his face. She didn't see many people like him very often, just regular people; not the secret service, important political figures, etc. He didn't seem much different than them though, maybe a bit more reclusive and thick-skinned. But she kind of liked the refreshing feeling of not being treated like a kid, or like the _President's_ daughter.

"If you stare at me too long now, there'll be nothing to look at later, when you're _really_ bored." He said in a cool voice, not looking away from the window, or the traffic.

She pulled back in slight shock, and looked the other way in a sulk. Neji looked over at her, and again found himself almost smiling at her actions. At least she was entertaining. He snapped to attention when he heard the woman on dispatch speak again, in a low voice. A few numbers, then a street name. Tenten glanced at the street nearest to them, and found that it matched up with the one on the radio.

"Dispatch," He spoke into a communicator to dispatch, along with some numbers of their cruiser, "We're en route."

Neji easily flicked his siren on without even looking and bolted down the street corresponding with the call, causing Tenten to almost fall over, as she hadn't been expecting such sudden speed. She held on to the '_oh-shit_' handle above her door as they sped around the block and pulled up about a building away from a convenience store. Neji popped open his car door and slid out, quickly turning the car off and taking the keys with him. Tenten undid her seatbelt hurriedly.

"Come on, hurry." He slid his gun out of its holster and crept towards the store.

"No way I'm missing this," She said eagerly shoving her door open and grabbing her gun, following him to the store.

The store was silent from the outside, not even a pedestrian, but as they got closer, Neji detected the sound of a man yelling at something. Neither of them could make out any words, though. He gestured for Tenten to follow after him, and quietly slid through the propped-open door, staying low to the ground. He knelt next to an aisle, peering slowly around the edge behind some hanging jerky. He didn't dare turn his back to the scene, but whispered to her.

"Stay here for a moment." He said quietly and crept around the end of the aisle.

From what he could see, there was one man at the counter threatening the worker, one in the middle of the next aisle over, scouting, and one at the other end of the store. He even made sure to check each convex mirror, but saw no one else. At least there was no crowd to get in the way. He slunk back to her position and spoke softly.

"Three guys, you take the one in the back, I'll get the other two. Back me up." He said with a nod, but felt he needed to warm her, as newbies often needed the telling, "Don't shoot him if you can help it, just wait for my signal and keep him under control."

"I know, I know." She nodded back, heart pumping and head spinning.

She slipped around back, to the second furthest row to the end of the store, and watched the guy smirking and fiddling with his gun. He was watching himself in the convex mirror, winking and everything, and Tenten was surprised he couldn't see her in it. He didn't seem all that concerned at all. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't ignore the feeling of excitement twirling through her, it was like living in her mother's head. Her stomach was full of butterflies in anticipation. She crouched behind him, and with one swift movement, smashed him in the back of the head with the back of her gun, knocking him unconscious. His immobilized body slumped to the floor.

She spun her head sideways and watched Neji take close aim and shoot the guy further from him in the hand, knocking his gun out of his grasp and causing him to cry out in pain. The closer guy whipped around and aimed the gun at him. By then, Neji already had his gun aimed back at him. Effective, he'd caught them both off guard and avoided being outnumbered gun-wise. The two watched each other closely, a stalemate. Tenten raised her gun and aimed for the man's wrist, for she was deadly accurate with pistols, she discovered one summer day with her mother at the range in DC. But before she could pull her trigger, a booming voice came from right behind her.

"Who the hell-?" A large man with a gun ran up behind her and held up his semi-automatic.

She barely stared at him, having time to do nothing more. The menacingly vacant darkness of the end of his barrel was like a cave, dragging her into it's yawning form. Before her life flashed between her eyes and the cool cavern, a bullet whizzed past her shoulder, grazing her cheek, and struck the large man clean between the eyes. She could have sworn that she heard the sound of the gunshot _after_ the bullet had passed her, surely. With hardly a second's pause, she whirled around to see Neji's fiercely focused eyes, and below, the iron-sight of his slim black pistol directly towards her.

Neji's flawless aim faltered as his shoulder twitched and gave out, a mere inch-long scrap of metal bettering him. He fell forward, catching himself, and gripping his bleeding shoulder. The other man's aim followed him as he fell, and as the blow-back finished and recoil was through, his finger again twitched towards the temple of Neji's head. There was a sound, that Tenten barely heard at all, as the man's throat tore open through the middle, as a soaring bullet struck him right through the neck. He gurgled and fell to the ground, past Neji's crouching position. Neji's head slowly lifted, catching only Tenten's wide eyes as they watered in shock and her lips trembled around her wordless mouth.

She stared down the narrow aisle, then found her eyes focusing on the blur before her, the top of her own shaking pistol. She had reacted without even knowing she did it at all. Neji called to her, waved her over with his good arm desperately. She couldn't look at him; her eyes were locked on the corpse at the end of the aisle. He called again, and suddenly sound came rushing back.

"Tenkins, come over here," He shouted over the echoing sirens in the distance.

"R-right," She hurried over, absently, and crouched beside him, her eyes searching for answers.

"You okay?" He asked with slight urgency in his voice.

"Y-yeah." She stuttered, not knowing any other answer than that, "But, but you-"

Just then, two more squad cars raced by and slid up next to the store, in a disorganized fashion. The pair sighed in relief as Neji made certain the man he'd shot in the hand was still unarmed and too wounded to move. There were few shouts, before around five officers piled in, wielding their guns. They raced through the store to clear the area, and one officer found them.

"I need medics here now," He called over his shoulder to another officer who radioed it in, "Detective Hyuga, are you all right?" He spoke sternly but sincerely.

"Yes. There were four culprits, two here, two at the back. Two alive, two dead." Neji explained, saving Tenten the trouble of stuttering out gibberish.

"Yes sir." He nodded, before adding as he spotted it, "There's an ambulance outside, sir."

"Thank you." He nodded back, standing, and took Tenten gently by the arm, leading her outside. Even though he was the injured one, she needed more assistance than he did right now, and they both knew it.

-x0x-

Preview of Next Chapter:

"I wonder what our case is like," She though aloud, with sparkles in her eyes, "Mass murderer, international arms dealer, sweatshop owner, professional bank robbers, sadistic rapist..."

"I don't quite understand why you're _gleaming_ about sadistic rapists, Tenkins." Neji pondered without looking back at her.

"Lighten up Nejikins, call me Lizzy." She grinned, making a new nickname for herself.

"I thought I warned you about my name." He sighed, and she could almost feel his repressed, seething anger. She tried to remain fluffy.

**What does this mean? Down below here... This, this bubble thing. Maybe you should click it.**


	3. Assign Me Up

***Reminder: This story is kinda old, I'm just posting it for shits. If you don't like the story, just go read somewhere else. Might as well not waste your time, right? Also, keep your lights on and sit back if you can. Save your eyes.**

**DISCLAIMER: This entire story is Copywrite. MINE. Got it? Naruto, however, is NOT. Characters, also not mine. **

_**-x0x-**_

_**Fake It 'till You Make It**_

**Chapter 2: Assign Me Up**

"Just hit flesh and muscle," The paramedic handed him a little bag with the bullet inside, "Lucky it was low calibre. Shouldn't take long to heal up, just let your shoulder muscles rest."

The paramedic cut the excess fabric from the bandage and tucked it into a fold near his clavicle. Neji nodded to the man and he left, having done all that was necessary. They sat in the back of an ambulance, quiet for a moment. Tenten stared at the ground, contemplating her actions and replaying the whole event over and over in her head, as she'd been doing the whole time. She'd hardly watched the medics cut into Neji's shirt, though she'd wanted to. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't remember actually pulling the trigger. It just happened too quickly.

"I take it that was your first." Neji said, without looking over at her.

"F-first... what?" She managed to say, trying to sound confident. Of course, she knew what he was taking about, but she could hardly bring the subject up herself.

"The first man you've ever had to kill." He glanced at her through the corner of his eye. He wasn't about to bother her about it.

"I-I," She mumbled, then fell silent and nodded. He knew already, anyway.

"It'll stay with you," He said something she really didn't want to hear, "but I think it's a good thing." She let him go on, "The day that stuff stops affecting you, well, that's the day we shouldn't be doing this job any more."

"I guess so." She sighed, and tried to shake it off. She wanted to act it off, anyway.

"You'll get over it eventually, more or less." He said, trying to cheer her up. He was silent for a few seconds, "Thank you."

Her head snapped to him, "Hmm?" She definitely hadn't been looking for any apology, especially from him.

"You saved my life." He smirked, knowing that it might make it easier for her to deal with. She smiled back eagerly.

"You started it." She said cheerfully, nudging him playfully.

"That was a nice shot, by the way." He said casually, prodding at his bandages already. He didn't like them at all.

"Same to you." She agreed, remembering the sudden hole in the forehead of the man who was going to put that damn black hole in her. She was relieved somehow by his death, which was a feeling she didn't like so much.

"Hyuga, Tenkins," Lieutenant Guy came over to them, "Nice work out there. Clean, efficient, minimal damage."

"Thank you, sir," She beamed, hearing that a job was well done was like music to her ears above the sirens, gunshots and shouting earlier.

"Well," He nodded, not used to seeing such a happy face in this line of work, "if you're up for it, I have a case for you."

"Hell yeah!" She nodded, jumping up ecstatically, before clearing her throat ans settling down again, as she must have embarrassed herself again.

"Your shifts not over, so if you're still able to just do office work, meet me back at the precinct, after we clean this mess up." He said, turning around and gesturing to the scene.

"C'mon," She tugged at Neji's good arm.

"You certainly bounce back fast, don't you?" He said hopping off the back end of the paramedic truck.

"One of us has to." She said with ridged playfulness. He shook his head, and she wasn't certain if he was laughing or snuffing her off.

He pushed past her and towards the cruiser, which still sat a block down, though someone had been kind enough to close the door and turn it off. Another officer, he'd bet. Tenten sighed and followed after him in the direction that they had left the police cruiser. He seemed to be back to his regular stern self, which she wasn't too pleased about. She was kind of a goof, and she like to horse around with others. '_I guess he hasn't quite opened up to me yet_' she thought to herself, but with no discouragement.

The whole ride back, he didn't seem interested in chatting with her, no surprise there, and she was a little upset by it. Of course, that was who he was, quiet, personal, what you will, but she was still disappointed. Her mother had always told her that your partner is your best friend, and in a way, he was. She didn't really have any other friends, especially in New York, so this _was_ the best she had. What kept her going was the thought of all the crazy stories her mother told her about her time on the force. She couldn't help but get excited every time she heard the ringing sirens or saw the flashing lights. It was in her blood.

Once, when she was a kid still, her mother had given her a bedtime story where her and her partner infiltrated this major arms dealer's place. It was full of chase, gunfire, explosions, it was just everything she loved in a story. Her mother was shot twice then, and her partner once. They had staked the place out for two days prior to that, in a car in the ally across the street and over a block. She remembered every detail of the tale, and could imagine it in her mind's eye like a memory.

Tenten always wanted a dangerous life, filled with excitement. No dull, boring house-wife lifestyle would ever be good enough. Not to mention, she loved to protect people, the feeling of ripping a life from the jaws of hell, it was just so overwhelming. And like any kid, she'd always had an ambition to save the world. She always knew, and always was told, she was cheery on the outside, tough on the inside. She like it like that.

They pulled up to the station and Neji pocketed his keys before exiting the vehicle. Tenten quickly shuffled out, almost tripping onto the side walk. He locked the car from his pocket, and the two made their way across the lot. Still not having got the whole idea of the station, she followed him through the halls. She checked the time on her way by on a wall clock, and noticed that her shift ended in mere hours. Time certainly went by quickly, out of the house.

"I wonder what our case is like," She though aloud, with sparkles in her eyes, "Mass murderer, international arms dealer, sweatshop owner, professional bank robbers, sadistic rapist..."

"I don't quite understand why you're _gleaming_ about sadistic rapists, Tenkins." Neji pondered without looking back at her.

"Lighten up Nejikins, call me Lizzy." She grinned, making a new nickname for herself.

"I thought I warned you about my name." He sighed, and she could almost feel his repressed, seething anger. She tried to remain fluffy.

"You're such a stiff." She laughed lightly, patting his back like they were good friends. Really, she wasn't sure if they were.

"Tenkins is just fine." He said as they neared the office, figuring he had ended the subject himself.

"No, no, how 'bout Tenny? Tena? Ten-" Her ramblings were cut off, as was their advance for a moment's pause.

"Tenkins, Hyuga," The Lieutenant came out of his office to greet them, as if knowing they were there already. She was surprised at how he got there before them.

"Sir." Neji nodded casually.

"Sir!" Tenten stood up as strait as possible and mocked a salute, with a fake serious face. She loved pretending to overshadowing him, it got on his nerves so quickly. Even if he wouldn't show it so openly.

Neji sighed in annoyance, but let it pass as he was before his superior, "Our case, if you will."

"Oh, right, of course," The Lieutenant disappeared back into his office, and Neji's eye twitched to think that he'd forgotten so soon. Guy came back with a folder, identical to the one he had given Lee earlier, "Here."

"Thanks," Neji went to reach for it, but Tenten grabbed it first and cracked it open to read it. He just looked at her out of the corner of his eye, watching her intrigue.

"There have been several homicides around the city," Guy began, "in seemingly random places. Up-scale, slums, parks, you name it, there's just no pattern. Victimology is all over the map, to boot. No specific race, gender age, and we can't seen to find any commonalities. They were all killed in the same way, however. We need to catch this bastard, or these bastards, and fast." He explained briefly, leaving the folder to do the rest of the work.

"Yes sir," They both said, Neji being serious, and Tenten mocking him, knowing what his response was to be. Guy didn't seem to catch it, but Neji couldn't help but steam a bit. Guy watched though, how he hadn't moved his wounded arm at all.

"Perhaps you should take this one out of the station for a bit," Guy started, "Relax a bit. The both of you."

"Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant. Come on, Tenkins." He spun around and grabbed her arm as he next to stormed out, dragging her behind.

"I though we agreed you'd call me Lizzy!" The Lieutenant heard faintly as he sighed and turned towards his office.

"Tenkins is plenty far enough." Neji's quiet voice barely reached the man's ears as he entered the boring room.

"Make it _Tenten_, then, at least!" Her louder voice even went through Guy's door, and he could only smile at her blind enthusiasm. This job will do that out of a person.

He sighed and sat down at his desk once more, leaning back. He hadn't rested for more than twelve seconds when Lee and Gaara came into the office to talk with him. He raised his head at the two as they argued. Lee always seemed to bring the worst out in people, he found.

"That was far too easy." Gaara said casually, as if he never even got out of bed this morning.

"You can't just shoot a guy and say '_job well done_'!" Lee retorted, enraged by his partner's lack of passion or thoroughness.

"Apparently I can." He started in response, "If I couldn't, then what did I _just_ do? Have a tea party and say '_I like your earl grey, it's perfectly brewed_'?" Gaara growled in a low voice, not wanting Lee to utter another word.

"But that's not an efficient way to solve crime!" He continued, determined to show his new partner the way he finished his cases.

"The guy is no threat any more, is he?" Gaara smirked. If he was a threat at all, he reminded himself.

"What are you two doing here?" the Lieutenant asked, stressfully rubbing his temple as he rested his elbow on the desk.

"We finished the case, and want another." Gaara demanded. He was definitely not one to sit around bored, he got very fidgety and irritable, if he wasn't already.

"Don't talk to the lieutenant like that, Gaarard!" Lee whispered, somehow believing that his name was short for a more formal one. Gaara didn't take well to this.

"My name's not Gaarard, Rock. That's not even a damn name." He rolled his eyes, plenty frustrated having this boy follow him around, judging his every move.

"Quiet you two; you're giving me a migraine." He fumbled around with folders on his desk then handed one to Lee, "Huge uprising of drug deals, _deal_ with it."

"Understood." Gaara smirked with an evil kind of smirk that made Lee shiver slightly. He would never have admitted it though, especially to Neji.

The two left his office and wondered out into the parking lot, where Lee's car was parked, along with most other detective's vehicles. As they walked, in the spot about three cars away, Neji was leaning his elbow on the top of his car and resting his chin on his hand, staring across the auto-mobile at the girl bouncing up and down with her hands held out to him.

"Can I drive? Pretty please, pretty _pretty_ please?" She begged, stretched far across the roof of the car, barely standing on one toe.

"My car, my rules; now get in or I leave you behind." He argued as he cracked open the door.

"Well fine, if you're going to be like that," She groaned with a loud sigh.

Lee walked by with Gaara and tossed a glance at his former partner through his side-view mirror. Lee gave a polite nod, and Neji, though still more than tense around Lee's new partner, returned it as he pulled his seatbelt over himself. Tenten put on her seatbelt over her crossed arms and under her pouting lips. She just stared at her feet on the floor mat, waiting to hear of where they were going.

"We'll go to a coffee shop for a couple of hours." Neji said, turning his car on, "To read over the files. There's no free space at the precinct that's without distraction, rookie orientation is just starting."

"Oh great, _coffee_, I'll just have myself a few cups then," She toyed, and he paused, keys hanging in the ignition.

"On second thought, we'll go to my place." He put his arm around her seat and reversed out of the spot, "It's close by, and there's nothing there for you to destroy."

"So you think you're getting lucky then?" She replied with a sly smile. She just couldn't stop, now.

"Don't push it. I don't want you there either, but you're too difficult in public and I don't even want to know where you live." He grumbled, driving out of the lot just in front of Lee's car.

"Yeah, yeah." She agreed, looking out her window at the passing concrete medians.

It was just over a five minute drive to Neji's apartment building, as he had bought it for that reason. It wasn't very big, but it was in good enough condition, and he wasn't there long enough at a time to really care. They went four floors up and seven doors down the hallway to his residence. His door was clean, complete with a peep hole in the middle. Tenten couldn't help but lean up to it and look in, though she couldn't see in at all.

"Do you usually take women back to your place right away like this?" She asked as innocently as she could muster.

"Just get in." He replied, grabbing her arm and yanking her inside, as he didn't want any neighbours to see him with some woman, even if she was just a co-worker.

His apartment was neat, to say the least. Even the blanket on the couch was folded and placed at the end. He tossed his keys on the table and removed his used, brown leather jacket. He hung it on the coat rack and gestured for her to do the same. He had nice things, but not a lot. A small television, simple stereo, small wooden table with four wooden chairs and a vase with some red flowers in it, two matching grey love seats, one grey recliner, carpeted and hardwood floors. It was just where he lived, if that.

His wall had next to no pictures, and was painted a cool brown, which matched the deep grey-blue carpet, brown table, and grey furniture. The few pictures he did have were of a girl with long deep black hair and light eyes just like his. He placed the case folder on his desk against a wall, with a computer on it. He didn't seem to mind her obvious snooping eyes.

"Nice place." She said flopping lazily on his couch, and putting her feet up on the coffee table casually. Of course, he would disagree with that.

"Shoes." He said, without looking over at her, knowing that she would still have her shoes on. She narrowed her eyes at his sense, but obliged him.

"Woopsie." She slipped her shoes off and tossed them behind her, in his direction.

One of her shoes landed near the door, as she aimed, and the second was aimed at the back of his head. But he was quick, and he spun around just in time from emptying his pockets to catch the airborne footwear. With the wrong arm, of course, but he wouldn't show it. He lightly tossed it at the door and grabbed the folder off the table. He walked up behind her and tossed the folder onto the mahogany coffee table. He rested his hands on the couch, next to either side of her head.

"What now?" She asked, leaning her head back and looking up at him.

"Research." He sighed, knowing she wouldn't like this part. Even he was no die-hard fan of it.

"Aw man!" She groaned.

"We're detectives, it's part of what we do." He said, walking around the couch and sitting on the other side, far from her.

"I guess you're right." She accepted it, though it was hard to swallow, and began rummaging through the files, "So, who died?"

"From what I've read, no one particularly important. Just regular citizens." Neji said thoughtfully.

"They don't know each other?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Judging from the research done by the police before us, no." He replied, "That's what we need to figure out."

"Do we have evidence on anyone, suspect lists?" She asked, desperately searching for any starting point at all.

"Two fingerprints were acquired: one is a partial that has no name to it, and the other to an officer." Neji paused before continuing, "But he's new, so he said that he just made a mistake when he collected the evidence."

"Well, I give up." She laid back against the couch in mock laziness. She goofed around too much, surely.

"Come now," He leaned closer to her and spoke softer, "There's always more than meets the eye, hmm? You should know that well." He added subtly and quietly, as if only to himself.

"Cha," She said, blushing a little with nervousness, but full to the brim with enthusiasm, "Then let's do some digging!"

"There we go," He said, rummaging through the file for anything interesting. It would be a while, he was sure.

Those few hours had passed by slowly, as most was silence and readings. A few shared details, some observations, but rather quiet. The pair was going over their individual findings together before they separate as shifts ended, to understand all they knew so far. Tenten began as she lay her portion of the folder on the already cluttered table.

"Seven known victims, each shot through the top left of the forehead. Three female, four male. Two blonde, three brunettes, one redhead, one black haired. Only a partial fingerprint found on a gun matching the bullets in the victims recovered at the scene, with no name registered to it, and a single hair with no DNA." She trailed off, letting him cut in.

"Each victim was more than five miles away from each other. No known relation, ages varied from twenty-three to fifty-four." He sighed, "This seems like just anonymous homicide. Like some serial killer working up his skill."

"I should go," She said to the clock, "shift's way over and I need to get some sleep. We'll meet at the precinct tomorrow, 'kay?" She said in a yawn.

"We'll rerun the finger print through the database tomorrow, all right? Different parameters." Neji said looking over at her.

"Got it." She nodded standing up and walking towards the door.

Her jacket hung where she had left it, not even swayed by time. She waved goodbye once more over her shoulder before disappearing through the door. She closed it quickly behind her and sighed, leaning her back against it slowly. She pressed her head against the door and raised her chin, closing her eyes.

"I don't think this guy likes me very much." She said with a small smirk. It was funny, in a sad way.

The door opened in the apartment next to her and someone emerged from the inside, carrying a garbage bag. He stared at her for an instant in confusion. She opened her eyes, hearing the door open, and looked over at the guy. He seemed a little younger than her, and had short scruffy blonde hair that was spiked in a child-like fashion. He was wearing a black and orange jacket and orange pants. His blue eyes widened slightly and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What are you looking at?" Tenten said sharply, turning on her heel and heading for the elevator. She pressed the down button and tapped her foot in wait. It wasn't coming fast enough for her. She glanced back and saw the guy still looking at her, not a toe moved. She crossed her arms and glared at him. It was making her uncomfortable and impatient, she might have well have started pacing. "Are you waiting for me to combust?" She asked in a bored tone, as if he wasn't bothering her.

She sighed and slipped into the stairwell, but just before the stairwell door closed all the way behind her, the _ting_ of the elevator arriving made her do a mid-step 180 spin and rush back into the hall, almost tripping over her own leg. She stumbled into the elevator quickly. Standing still in the middle of the elevator, she cleared her throat and fixed her collar, trying to do anything to avoid the young man's eye contact. Finally, after a million years, the doors closed shut and she sighed in full relief.

"Dude!" The blonde boy said to himself after the elevator left. He dropped his garbage against the door of the apartment across the hall and ran right into Neji's apartment, "Neji!" He said as the door made a satisfying _bang_ against the wall behind it. He obviously hadn't locked it in time.

"What is it this time, Naruto?" He replied without looking up from his work, sighing in aggravation, "If you need to borrow more toilet paper I'm going to have to suggest to you that you buy some for yourself, in case another incident happens and I'm not around to be so generous."

"Who's the _girl_ I saw coming out of your place?" He asked excitedly, as if it actually had anything to do with him.

"_Girl_ ." He repeated, hating the sound of the word, "You make her sound like a child." He wouldn't have been too far off, Neji thought jokingly with a snide smirk, "That _woman_ is my new partner."

"_Partner_ ? Is that some new term for girlfriend, or is she a _dude_ and you're... trying to be... polite?" He pondered, becoming more uncomfortable by the word.

"No, you ignoramus. She's my _work_ partner." He said, exasperated. He was glad he never brought his other colleagues around with him, this would have become a normal occurrence, and he did not want to associate Naruto with _normal_.

"Still don't know where you're going with this, I mean, you could work as some pimp on the side, and she could be your-" He was cut off, thankfully.

"She's a _detective_, and my new partner at the _police_ station." He said, trying not to get too worked up by the guy's idiocy. He was always like this.

"Oh! That makes more sense; I surely couldn't believe that you were gay, despite your remarkable lack of steady dating." He teased roughly, and Neji would have none of it.

"Get out of my apartment before I break your skull in and make it look like an accident." He said in an even tone, rearranging the files before him without much effort.

"Got it!" He nodded and slipped out.

Tenten caught the bus back to her place, a few miles uptown. She didn't mind the bus; it was an adventure every time. She certainly went out of her way for that idea, that adventure thing. She had dumped her old car, in fear that her step father would track her somehow. She was staying at a hotel, probably three or four star; she hadn't checked, nor cared to. It was the right price range and close enough that she could just use transit.

The instant she got to her room, which was still empty and packed up, she fell down into her pillow. She grumbled tiredly and kicked off her shoes without turning over. Neji and she had ordered Chinese food at his place, so she wasn't hungry enough to stay up. But as she closed her eyes, she found only the sight of blood erupting from the neck of that horrible man. She was on her knees at once, her back pressed firmly against her headboard. She was breathing heavy, eyes darting through the still slowly emerging darkness. She really didn't know much about what on Earth was happening to her, she'd never had such terror strike her so suddenly. She closed her eyes again, and while strumming through the case files she could remember, the face of that man jumped out at her again.

Her stomach churned fearfully, and she genuinely felt terrified. Even now, with eyes fully wide and teeth fully clenched like her arms around her legs, his dark expressing hung over her and dangled like a broken man on a string. She threw the pillow just beside her at the intangible mirage. She could still see the pointing sight of her gun, fully focused, right at the bottom of her eyes. She swatted at it, but it seemed to be the only lighted object in view. '_Come, let me clutch thee!_' Her head rang, words like script jumping from the perceived absence of light, '_I have thee not, and yet I see thee still?_'. She was comforted by that thought at least, that she was human enough to still relate things. But it was not comforting enough.

Growling into the welcoming silence, she slid once more against her rickety headboard. Her chin still raised, her eyes hanging lifelessly half-open betwixt the wide evening packaged in her window. She slammed her eyes shut now, focused on only seeing the black of her eyelids. She would have no such luck.

-x0x-

Preview of Next Chapter:

"Sir, I have reason to believe that the cases-" He began, but was cut off.

"Listen to me, Neji, cease this insubordination before I have to suspend you. You shouldn't even be here with that injury." He said, trying to intimidate him.

"…" He hesitated, then spoke again, "Yes sir." He turned around, and was about to leave the interrogation room, when Guy stopped him again, this time in a tone much more low and harsh.

"You're slipping, Hyuga." He spoke with daggers.

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